The correct answer is Physical assets deliver intended function . Reliability Centered Maintenance is not primarily a cost-cutting method, even though cost improvement may result when the strategy is properly designed. RCM begins with the asset’s required functions in its operating context, then identifies functional failures, failure modes, failure effects, and consequences. Maintenance tasks are selected only when they are technically applicable and worth doing to preserve function or manage failure consequences. Option A is incomplete because lowering maintenance cost without protecting function can increase risk and downtime. Option C is also incorrect because warranty compliance is a commercial or contractual concern; it is not the purpose of RCM. The purpose of RCM is to determine the most effective maintenance strategy so assets continue to perform what the organization requires from them. This places the question squarely in Reliability Engineering for Maintenance, where failure modes and maintenance strategies are engineered rather than guessed. RCM is described as selecting maintenance strategies based on asset function, failure modes, and consequences to preserve system function at the lowest lifecycle cost.